Adopted or born into God's family

Romans 11:28
Deuteronomy 30:15-20

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God didn't take His promises away from one people and hand them to another. Rather He opened the door for others to be adopted into the same family and pruned off those who didn't want to belong. This is a huge difference both for those born into the family, and their potential ability to return, and for those adopted in, and their perspective on the relationship between themselves and those who are natural members.
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I identify myself with both sides. On the one hand, I am very much a Gentile. I would not be allowed into God's family by birth and I am very conscious of the blessed gift I have been given to be adopted. My natural heritage would not be one that leads to eternal life, let alone the joy and peace given to those who belong to God. I must never fall into the deceptive trap of thinking that I am superior to the natural-born, for they of course are either growing from the vine without scars from the graft (if they have never rejected the Messiah) or are more naturally brought back into the family than I, who was born outside and brought in later.
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On the other hand, I was born and raised to be Christian. I was never in ignorance of the Truth, never left to my own devices far away from God. I cannot plead the innocence of someone who never encountered the Lord; if I choose to do what is wrong, then I cannot pretend that I thought it was right. Yet even someone who chooses to disobey God in a very significant way, breaking their connection with His family, can be grafted back in. There is no hopeless case.